Monthly Archives: September 2017

The rules on Happy Hour in Tennessee can drive you to drink. Make that a double.

Nothing good seems to happens after 10 pm, or at least so thinks the Tennessee state legislature. After 10 pm, bars cannot:

sell or serve more than one drink at a time

pour more alcohol for the same price

The exceptions to the rules make it fun – for sick folks that like obtuse facts, like lawyers.

First of all, beer is happy, day or night. Happy hour rules do not apply to beer.

Half price cocktails and other drink discounts are timeless. Tennessee ditched the old rule that prohibited discounting drinks after 10 pm.

2-4-1 is tricky. Although you can discount drinks until close, you cannot serve 2 drinks to a customer after 10 pm.

And speaking of doubles, bring it on, as long as the price for a second shot is the same, day or night. Offering discounted doubles after 10 pm can violate the rule against pouring more alcohol for the same price after 10 pm.

Be careful with drink chips and other free drink promotions. Tennessee state law prohibits giving away wine or spirits. You can do 2-4-1 with a drink chip, as long as the chip is redeemed by 10 pm. Redeem the chip after 10 pm and you violate happy hour laws. If the customer tries to redeem the chip for a drink on the next day, you are giving away liquor and can be cited.

Beware of bottomless mimosas, bloody mary’s and other cocktails. Serving too many drinks for a fixed price can violate the rule against giving away liquor. You can also get folks drunk. State law prohibits serving alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person.

I know, isn’t that the whole purpose for going to a bar anyway: to get drunk?

We have been quietly humming the Ren & Stimpy oh-so-sarcastic theme song whilst posting this happy hour nonsense:

Landlords know this problem all too well. The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission calls a landlord an “indirect owner” if the landlord that receives 5% or more in percentage rent from the sale of alcohol.

The ABC requires that the landlord file an ABC questionnaire for the landlord company. Recently, the ABC has been requiring that at least one corporate officer of the landlord also file an ABC questionnaire.

Landlords are understandably concerned about having an “indirect interest” in a liquor license. Landlords generally have nothing to do with the sale of alcohol, other than an arms-length lease to a tenant that holds an alcoholic beverage license. Filing a questionnaire or otherwise “being on the liquor license” raises concerns that a plaintiff might sue the landlord in a dram shop action for liquor liability.

In addition, ABC questionnaires require officers to divulge confidential personal information, including a social security number.

We are pleased to announce that the ABC recently discontinued ABC questionnaires for landlords having percent rent. Instead, the ABC published the “Landlord Interest Affidavit.”

The Landlord Interest Affidavit dispatches with personal information and is limited to factors that would disqualify a landlord from receiving rental income from the sale of alcohol.

Snoop Dogg’s classic “Show Me Some Love” seems appropriate:

You don’t show me some love(show me love, for real, you gets no love, yea)You gets no loving babe (you gets no love, you ain’t gonna miss it till it’s gone)

We applaud the ABC for responding to this industry concern and showing some love to landlords.